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Post by rallycairn on Jul 19, 2015 18:31:32 GMT 1
For the Summer Reading Challenge, I just read One Day Event and Pony Club Camp, the latter being the one with the famous/infamous “moment” between Henry and Noel – did they or didn’t they [omg] KISS? My read on the situation was that they didn’t; however, they most assuredly were openly admitting feelings for each other. Henry was pretty direct in saying that if he were further along in his career, he would be ready to ask for a serious commitment from Noel. He was also clear in stating his perception of the “society” girls/young women he knew, and his preference for the friendships and relationships of the pony club group.
So, with the well-known Noel-Henry speculative relationship before me, I got to thinking about romantic relationships in other horse/pony books. Let’s indulge in a good gossip about some of our favorite friends from pony books – after all, this kind of gossip can’t hurt anyone!
What are your favorite pony book couples? Were they overtly romantically involved in the book(s), was romance just hinted at – or are any romantic longings completely wishful thinking on your part? Any couples you don’t like?
I’ll start. I recently read the
CHILL VALLEY HOUNDS trilogy by CPT. I fancied there were hints of possible future romance between the narrator, Sandy, and Andrew, the huntsman – but also perhaps even more strongly of an attraction between Sandy and David Peterborough, the local gentry guy who is a staunch and loyal supporter of the hunt. David’s interactions are almost exclusively with Sandy, he invites her to tea in the third book, Sandy tends to be aware of his dates for the social functions. And when, in the third book, David is introducing all the children to his young-looking mother, he says, “To tell the truth, I really only know Sandy.” SAY WHAT? He might not be expected to know them all, but surely, having capped with the Chill Valley for three seasons at that point, at least he would have picked up on the Master’s name and the Hunstman’s, not just the name of one whipper-in (Sandy). So I saw hints of attraction between David and Sandy – though much of it is probably wishful thinking on my part.
FLAMBARDS – Christina/Will/Dick/Mark – all very overt relationships, and surely one of the great romantic quadrangles in all ponybookdom (perhaps the only one, but still, very compelling). I’m a Christina-Dick fan myself, speaking to the book versions of the characters only. The Mark of the TV series had a few (very few) redeeming qualities and was a bit less cruel and close minded than the Mark of the books.
TRIXIE BELDEN – Trixie and Jim, Honey and Brian, Diana and Mark – open crushes in the books, though few if any serious romantic moments. A possible spanner hits the works, though, when Dan is added to the series, and though I adored Jim and Trixie together, Dan was a great and appealing character, too. I could easily envision Dan with Trixie if she and Jim outgrew their “first love” and moved on to other relationships. ( Heeheehee this is fun! As though these characters are real…)
BLUE RIBBON SUMMER – romance is a pretty big part of the book, and our main characters are all young adults out of school (though not all out of university yet) and embarking on full- or part-time careers in the show horse world. Love Jean and Ron together and could see them as a power couple in the horse training world like the O’Connors and Lesley/Leslie Law.
Anybody like the couple in the Peel books? Other favorites? Remember to note if the romance is really there in the books, hinted at/ambiguous, or complete fantasy on your part! Not that it matters, anything goes in the Gossip Column, coming to you from the Tack Room Lounge and the Wash Rack Pub and the rail at the back stretch and the concession line at the show (or the tea tent at the rally) …
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Post by susanb on Jul 19, 2015 22:38:56 GMT 1
Fun idea, Rally....the first that springs to mind is Melanie and Richie from Horse in the House by William Corbin.
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Post by rallycairn on Jul 20, 2015 15:19:03 GMT 1
Oh, I haven't read that one, Susan -- is it a "will they or won't they get together?" kind of thing?
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Post by susanb on Jul 20, 2015 15:30:56 GMT 1
Oh no, none of that game-playing.....here's link to the discussion thread...we did it as a group read a couple of years ago. It's an American book, but had a Puffin reprint in the UK, which made it a good US book to do. Hunt down a copy, you'll love it! ponybooks.proboards.com/thread/920/horse-house
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Post by kunuma1 on Jul 20, 2015 18:53:04 GMT 1
I'd have to go for Tamsin and Meryon, and Rissa and Dion of course. Plus there's Stevie and Phil !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by susanb on Jul 20, 2015 19:01:17 GMT 1
Haven't made it far enough in Monica Edwards series to hit the romance bit, something to look forward to I've got a good bit of her Punchbowl farm series, but unfortunately I didn't have it when I put together my summer reading challenge list Oh well, something for the autumn!
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Post by Claire on Jul 20, 2015 22:49:14 GMT 1
Fun thread even tho I am not really qualified to judge anything romantic having managed to end 2 relationships in 2015 already! Lol don't ask Love Pony Club Camp - there was definitely a romantic thread running through the book, not only Henry and Noel but Jonathan fancying Noel from a distance and Gay trying to match-make and consulting Major Holbrooke about marriage. Lots of gossip going on. Very funny stuff, nothing mawkish at all. Even the love scene between Henry & Noel was pretty down to earth. Doesn't he say something like "I'll give you a kiss if you like" and she replies "that's jolly nice of you" or something similar. I actually do think they had a kiss. Maybe not tongues tho!! Flambards - do not get me started on Flambards Divided. I have expunged that book from existance in my mind so the series ends for me with Dick and Christina getting together which I felt was right. I thought there was a spark between them in the first book, but because they were from completely different stations in life at that time it couldn't go further. I think Christina was swept up with the excitement of flying as much as falling in love with Will. There is no way she would have been stupid enough to fall for Mark! Still on the KMP theme, there's the whole Ruth-Pennington-Peter thing. I always wanted Ruth and Peter to get together. They were perfect for each other. But as with life you don't usually fall for the right one. The relationship between Ruth and Pennington was really well done in that it showed what happens when you fall wildly in love with someone you have little in common with. Once the passion wears off, there's not much left, which is what happens to them by Marion's Angels. I still like to think she dumped Patrick and got back with Peter. Ann and Jim in the H M Peel Books - I always find these two irritating, what Bridget Jones called 'Smug Marrieds'
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2015 6:09:44 GMT 1
Flambards Divided UGH! Should never have been written in my opinion. I agree it ended where it should have done with Christina and Dick getting together. While it may not have been "happy ever after" the whole time I really can't see her marrying Mark. I think she really did love Will but I'm not sure how that relationship would have panned out had he lived. I thought Will was a bit selfish and Christian might have got a bit bored with him after a while. She might have even had a secret fling with Dick! Flambards Divided just rambled on and on with Christian banging on about Mark this and Mark that. I really must read the Ruth-Pennington-Peter thing, that sounds good Wasn't there a romance of sorts in the Jinny series between Jinny and Ken? I've only read that series once so I might have got it completely wrong!
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Post by trixiepony on Jul 21, 2015 10:06:13 GMT 1
Not shore if I can remember romance in the Jinny books but is ages since I read them.
I love the pony club camp all most kiss, very cute, and a bout as daring as it got in those books.
Yes I remember the Trixie & Jim romance in the Trixie Belden books not really a pony story more adventure book, but at the time I found those books I was reading enything with a horse or pony in it.
Ruth & Pennington & Peter, good books more realistic than most.
How about Elaine & Forster? No one has said them yet, he was keen, but she kept him at arms length, maybe she was just a bit scared off him.
Dora & Steve, thay where cute.
I find more romantic in the modern pony books, some times I think it a bit to important in the modern pony book. But I gess things change, it's hard to find a kids book with out it now.
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Post by rallycairn on Jul 21, 2015 15:08:44 GMT 1
Ruth-Pat I liked. I re read Marion's Angels in the last year and wow, even better portrait of their marriage than I remembered. Pat came around by the end. At least Ruth's rival was Pat's dedication to his work, not another woman! The way Marion was drawn to both Pat and Ruth individually was nice.
Dora and Steve are definitely cute!
I haven't tead the books with Elaine and Forster.
Ann and Jim - ugh. Smug and unlikeable indeed. We won't invite them to any Pumble functions!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2015 18:15:24 GMT 1
Wasn't he a bit of a creep? Just trying to remember him...
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Post by Claire on Jul 21, 2015 20:44:40 GMT 1
Wasn't he a bit of a creep? Just trying to remember him... I thought he was a bit of a creep too. He was too good-looking and smarmy, a bit of a Mills n Boon type hero which I can't stand. (It was in The Eventing Trilogy btw for those that don't know or don't remember). What about the love triangle between Tamzin, Meryon and Andrea in The Outsider? When Lindsey's older sister Andrea meets Meryon she falls for him but I think she's a bit miffed that the younger and less beautiful Tamzin is the one he wants. Am I reading too much into it but does anyone else agree that the title The Outsider was also named for Andrea who was left outside the close relationship between Meryon and Tamzin?
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Post by rallycairn on Jul 23, 2015 4:52:12 GMT 1
Ah, ok, of course, Elaine from Eventing trilogy! Yes, the boyfriend was too overbearing and controlling for sure though not an out-and-out goon.
Rosie, aren't you a big Monica Dickens fan? What can you add to Claire's observations about Tamzin and Meryon? I haven't read many of hers yet but I have read the first one where Meryon appears -- and seeds were definitely sown for future romance, in my mind anyway. Interesting that Andrea was brought into the book as a third point in a triangle.
What about Stevie and Phil in the Saddle Club -- any thoughts?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2015 6:13:29 GMT 1
Frustratingly I haven't read this book. I was collecting the GGB editions and this is the last one to be republished and it's coming out very soon but sadly I can't afford to buy it now due to change in circumstances. I am a Monica Dickens fan too
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Post by kunuma1 on Jul 23, 2015 13:03:36 GMT 1
Wasn't he a bit of a creep? Just trying to remember him... I thought he was a bit of a creep too. He was too good-looking and smarmy, a bit of a Mills n Boon type hero which I can't stand. (It was in The Eventing Trilogy btw for those that don't know or don't remember). What about the love triangle between Tamzin, Meryon and Andrea in The Outsider? When Lindsey's older sister Andrea meets Meryon she falls for him but I think she's a bit miffed that the younger and less beautiful Tamzin is the one he wants. Am I reading too much into it but does anyone else agree that the title The Outsider was also named for Andrea who was left outside the close relationship between Meryon and Tamzin? Never thought of the title as referring to Andrea but it certainly could - I do think Tamsin and Meryon get the prize for the slowest moving relationship, but then wasn't she really young when it started, and of course back then young was young , not 13 going on thirty! At thirteen I had no idea boys existed! Rosie I think I've got a spare copy if you want to read it but it is the Armada paperback so possibly edited?
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Post by haffyfan on Jul 23, 2015 14:20:37 GMT 1
What about the dodgy relationship in Samantha Alexanders riders books between the 14 year old heroine and 18 year old Eventer. I'm sure 14 year old girls would love it but in reality it's a bit what was she thinking!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2015 14:38:13 GMT 1
Neither did I Kunuma! Yes please to your spare copy. If it is edited I'm sure people can fill me in on the missing bits.
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Post by Claire on Jul 24, 2015 16:16:21 GMT 1
What about the dodgy relationship in Samantha Alexanders riders books between the 14 year old heroine and 18 year old Eventer. I'm sure 14 year old girls would love it but in reality it's a bit what was she thinking! More like what was HE thinking! In RL I'm sure her mother would have put an end to it. Can't recall if the mother actually appeared in the series tho its so long since I read. Was there a similar dodgy age gap thing in the Green Horse series by Isolde Pullum? I haven't got the books any more so someone will have to check.
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Post by rallycairn on Jul 24, 2015 22:37:11 GMT 1
Yes, absolutely in the Green Horse trilogy -- in fact that was what I thought of too when the Samantha Alexander books were mentioned. IIRC they don't come close to doing anything, just an attraction that appears to be mutual, but there is a bit too much of an age gap for sure.
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Post by haffyfan on Jul 25, 2015 12:43:42 GMT 1
Sorry i meant what was the Author thinking, not the character.
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Post by ginslinger on Jun 2, 2016 23:20:37 GMT 1
Coming late to this thread, I can't add more books, but having reread the Barsetshire and Chill Valley books lately I would like to chip in on them if I may. I agree with Claire that Noel and Henry probably kissed but didn't snog. Aparently JPT was bombarded with letters about them and what happened next - I read from someone who interviewed her - maybe Jane Badger? - that despite Henry falling in love with a German dressage rider while serving in Germany which devastated Noel, they did eventually get back together when his overseas tour of duty finished and marry. She also agreed with the interviewer (and me) that John Manners and Susan Barington-Brown were a good couple and might well have married - fulfilling Henry's prediction. I do hope Marion got wise to Christopher but I think David Minton and Gay would have made a fun couple. Apparently there were five marriages among people who had been members of JPTs own branch of the Pony Club so why not. I also like to think that Eric and Paulina from RRC married. They so deserved each other but each were so insensitive and arrogant that they would probably be quite happy together. As for Chill Valley... well I don't seem to have remembered them very well. I do remember thinking that there was something between David and Sandy but I seemingly falsely remember there being more of him in the books that there is. He makes very brief appearances in the first two which mirror each other but despite his promise of a donation/sub in the first book they only seem to learn his name in the second or maybe only Valentine did. Then obviously he plays a more significant role in the last one, and yes Sandy is very aware of him. He certainly seems very impressed by her riding but there is a big age gap - at least ten years probably even if Kate's guess that he was old ie thirty was excessive in the light of his youthful mother. However in those days it was probably the two years between Noel and Henry that were more of an issue. Women of that class weren't really expected to work after marriage and men were expected to be able to support their wives. Sandy is trying to avoid finishing school or domestic science college which does suggest that her parents expected her to marry rather than have a career like Laurence and probably not expected to work too seriously in the meantime. David Peterborough was a fantastically eligible bachelor and I doubt anyone would have remarked on the age difference, and would be more shocked if DP married someone his own age. Mind you with modern cynicism I did wonder if this perpetually immaculately dressed bachelor living with his mother might not be the marrying kind... However despite my rememberings, re reading it there no doubt in my mind that Sandy is at least interested in Andrew. I know that as First Whip and huntsman they work together but she describes him more, is aware of his feelings and drug allergies, wishes she were dancing with him despite the trodden on feet and when she visualises the hunt staff's future she spends more time on Andrew than the others combined an "seeing.. Laurence, a barrister but still an MFH; Kate, a successful horse dealer; Valentine, I wasn't sure about Valentine; Andrew I saw galloping with hounds, blowing the gone away across Autumn fields, casting our pack amidst snow-tipped hills; ageless indomitable huntsman to the Chill Valley Foxhounds".... wow. Now there is certainly the premise for a grown up novel there and I may write it as fanfic. What a dynamic with David becoming Andrew's landlord if he were interested in Sandy..even more interesting if he also saw Sandy's interest in Andrew....
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